Yes. This book and movie adaptation is about the sins of men. How men treat men, how men treat women, how men have historically killed whatever they don’t like. This isn’t an attack on men, this is a major theme of this piece of art.

If you don’t like this review so far, you should probably click away.

Sold into prostitution as a child, Angel knows nothing but betrayal.

Can her heart ever be mended?

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I read this book. I loved this book, inspired by the Biblical story of Hosea. I loved it for many reasons, although I saw through some of its issues, I absorbed that deep abiding faithful grace is enough. Grace IS enough. And Francine Rivers’ involvement in the screenplay has a lot to do with that message making it to screen instead of being left behind by the male influence in the movie industry. I saw a LOT of proven female voices in the credits, the people that saw what Francine Rivers wrote and knew her original message needed to be protected.

From the RedeemingLoveMovie.com:

Based on the bestselling novel by Francine Rivers, REDEEMING LOVE  is a powerful story of relentless love and perseverance as a young couple’s relationship clashes with the harsh realities of the California Gold Rush of 1850. It is a life- changing story of the power of unconditional and all-consuming love. … REDEEMING LOVE  shows there is no brokenness that love can’t heal.

[On the book:] An international sensation, the beloved REDEEMING LOVE  book continues to be one of the industry’s top-selling titles year after year. This remarkable novel has sold millions of copies and is among the top twenty on the ECPA fiction bestsellers list for four years running.

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I love this adaptation. It is stunning. The performances are deeply complicated even when they have very little time on screen due to the nature of time passing over 15 years. Even with the overwhelmingly Christian cinema executive team (every heavy hitter was involved), this movie didn’t shy away from simulated sex, intimacy, and nudity in many contexts. I took longer to watch this because I was genuinely afraid that the team would scrub this story of its pain through sterilization. Some of the men in this story could be a tiny bit of a cartoon, but overall, the team met the call to do Angel justice.

Despite the top layer of criticism, this story doesn’t label all sex-workers as survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking, although this is exactly the story of Angel. This movie is a story about God’s redeeming love for all people in every walk of life. There are sex-workers in this movie in various levels of personal agency or perceived agency that allows for Angel’s story to be tragic in all the ways she was lost. And this story showed cases of women living under oppression no matter where they worked, lived, or attempted to play. Angel was never going to grow in these places of sexual slavery as she had dealt with her trauma response by turning off her will to live, which was not the case for other women in her life. She loved her women, too. Angel connected with women. That is a big deal in a story like this, her ability to hold, grow, and foster relationships with her peers gave us hope – as there were a LOT of men taking up space in this story.

And this story didn’t shy away from the tragic layer of racism in America. The Black sex worker addressed her Blackness with “Michael” and asked for what she wanted. “Michael’s” disgust with his Father’s plantation allowed for conversations about the evil of enslaving Black people between two white characters. Yes, all major characters in this story are white. Yet, this story’s origin comes from a Black man who had been enslaved on “Michael’s” Father’s plantation before the Civil War and that man’s grace for young “Michael.”

Wow, a lot of really bad things happened or are talked about in this story!!! Yes. I think Nell Minow‘s RogerEbert.com review states it best:

“The relentlessness of the litany of tragic pain and loss inflicted on Angel, including incest, suicide, theft, abortion, child molestation, abandonment, sex trafficking, arson, and much more, may come across as unsettling to those not schooled in this specific form of Christian storytelling. Those from more fundamentalist traditions will be more at home with the “Hell House”-style fascination with (and amplification of) the sins of the world and the eternal damnation that is the consequence. Whether innate or learned, there are narrative beats familiar from most mainstream stories that make “Redeeming Love” uncomfortably unbalanced for audiences who are from other faith traditions or secular.”

I was raised in the tradition of watching both secular and Christian media, so I was very comfortable with this type of dramatic tragedy to showcase a parable about the bounds of God’s grace. But I stay away from Christian cinema for the most part these days. I have a hard time agreeing with or even caring for the messages in the preaching-to-the-white-American-version-of-the-choir. But… I had already loved this book. So, I was gonna watch this no matter what.

It took me a while to warm up to Abigail Cowen as “Angel.” There are so many expectations put on her for ‘us’ to connect after reading and falling in love with who she has been to us for over a decade. But Ms Cowen fills the range with so much warmth, spark, and grace. I am instantly a big fan. Tom Lewis as “Michael Hosea” is a treasure. He walked the tightrope of delicate care, intense desire, and wisdom WITHOUT condescension. He is quite a find. His innocence shows through even when he’s struggling with God.

One perfect side note: Eric Dane as “Duke” is the casting I didn’t know I needed. He is a dark, brooding, and huge presence. He fills the shoes well. Better than I imagined.

And when you need MORE, yes, there is a podcast:

The Redeeming Love Movie Companion Podcast offers a home to exclusive behind-the-scenes content and interviews with the cast, along with a space to discuss the film’s themes with the bestselling author and screenwriter herself, Francine Rivers. 

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Click To Watch The Full Movie HERE On PEACOCK